Goodreads? You Bet!

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. You sit there, like an idiot, waiting in hair-tugging madness for Netflix to release your fave series' next season. Then, before you've had time to digest it properly and publicly declare it Fresh or Rotten ... blam-O! It's over!

You waited all this time to see who's dead, who hooked up and what they wore while it all happened. Then, in one long weekend, it's over. How the hell did that happen so quickly? All that anticipation and it's done and gone like yesterday's jam. (Wait. That's not right. Jam lasts forever. Init?)

Cheers, kittens! It's Moi, Miss Hannah Hart and like S3 of TURN, S4 of Bates Motel or a 2013 bottle of Coppola Director's Cut Cabernet, Comic-Con will have taunted and tempted you seemingly for-ev-er and then, Poof! ... all that delayed gratification is nothing but a sad ring of residue.

Why the harbinger of so much doom and gloom, Hannah? the fair reader wonders.

Fair point, fair reader. What the captain means to say is, SDCC is coming down the pipe fast, kids: less than two weeks. If I've learned anything in my 116 years of existence (Earthly and otherwise) it's time gets away from you, fast; so don't put off the little things. San Diego Comic-Con is the same thing. It seems like forever to wait, but it'll be here, and gone, before you can say, Bazinga!

When the Lolitas start looking old, it's over. Trust me, they start looking old pretty fast. Then, it's another year (save WonderCon, but that's still next Spring) before you get any Comic-Con mulligans. So, now, two weeks out, is your time to make it perfect.

Add those extra accoutrements to your costume; you'll wish you did when you see the work others put into their cosplay. Work in some extra days at the gym so you look superduper tight in that Harley Quinn or Thor costume. Polish up your portfolio if you're bringing artwork for a Portfolio Review Session with on-site, industry pros. Line up your panel schedule so you don't whine to your significant other every time you watch an episode of Bob's Burgers in the Autumn, I could've seen them in person! Don't let "Coulda Shoulda Woulda" be your motto.

The best way to keep track of all those panels, not to mention the allotted time you'll need to dash like The Flash from ballroom to ballroom? MySched of course! Even better? Sync MySched with the Official Comic-Con Mobile App (for Android and iOS). Worried about a connection? No worries! Just download the app and you'll get automatic updates regularly, sans Internet: special guest bios/photos, Exhibit Hall/hotels/ConvCtr maps, panel schedules and links to SDCC social media, for when you do have a connection.

Note: Of course, there is always Wi-Fi inside the Con; yet now there will be plenty of free Wi-Fi outside the Con, around San Diego: 100 HotSpots July 8 - 24, provided by a partnership between CCI and Cox Communications. Just look for the “Cox Wi-Fi Free” network on your device.

Re: those panels, check the official CCI Programming Schedule for the full buffet. From Silicon Valley to The Strain, from Torchwood to Wynonna Earp, from The Vampire Diaries to iZombie, from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along to Rotten Tomatoes' tar-and-feathering, pitch-capping Your Opinion Sucks! panel (Friday, July 22, 2016, 6:45p, Rm 6DE) you're going to need to queue up your ducks. FOX alone will be using the venue to proffer thirteen new, and returning, series.

20th Century Fox will introduce Son of Zorn, 24: Legacy and The Exorcist as well as a preview of a musical-revival of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Fan-faves returning to FOX include Scream Queens, Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, and Salem. Hide your toads.

Speaking of Will Arnett (Arrested Development, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, BoJack Horseman), Orange County's fave, obnoxious older-bro, Gob Bluth, will host Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con: a three-night, live telecast, airing Thursday, July 21 - Saturday, July 24, 2016, 8p.m. EST/5p.m. PST. The nightly spectacle will tape live on the Marriott Marquis & Marina rooftop. A standing-only, undoubtedly frenetic crowd will juxtapose beautifully against the serene, San Diego Harbor views as Arnett interviews actors, pros and fans atop the Marriott, sprinkling each evening with behind-the-scenes nomnoms and any SDCC "breaking news": presumably with interstitial squibs for his newest flick: The Lego Batman Movie (2017).

Note: Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con is a free, but ticketed event. You must have a badge and, I must report, as with all things Comic-Con, these free tix were gone within minutes of the availability announcement. It is possible, however, to join the huddled masses on ... The Waitlist. Bonne chance, chatons! If you did get tix, event organizers tell us there is no seating, SRO. They are honest in admitting SyFy Presents will be “slightly” oversold; yet, if you have tix, “as long as you arrive 30 minutes prior to the arrival time on [the] ticket you should be admitted”.

Kittens, get your gear in gear! The Con is nigh! If you need more detailed specifics on all goings-on, from panel updates/changes to pop-up screenings, from an up-to-the-minute Con-cast to Con-exclusive merch, from hotel info to off-site activities, bookmark San Diego Unofficial Blog. Only the folks running Comic-Con know better what's happening at SDCC!

P.S. Even if your badges were mailed to you this year, don't forget to head upstairs at the ConvCtr, to the Salis Pavillion, to pick up your official, 2016 Comic-Con International Souvenir Book! Our Miss Hannah (aka Jennifer Susannah Devore), hopefully, has her sixth SDCC article in this one: 75th anniversary of Archie Comics, a Betty & Veronica retrospective! To read her past articles on Catwoman, The Simpsons, Hellboy, Peanuts and Tarzan, visit her SDCC Articles page at JennyPop.net!

“Comic-Con is the one time of the year when all nerds can set aside their personal opinions and focus on their petty differences … ”

-Will Arnett

Two Daphnes: post-apocalyptic and classic. Photo: JSDevore

Cheers, kittens! ‘Tis July and that means Comic-Con in these here parts! Final touches to costumes, triple-confirming hotel reservations, extra days at the gym and squirreling away all the forgotten pocket-dough you find doing laundry. Oh, wait … how rude of me. You didn’t get a badge? You’re not attending San Diego Comic-Con (San Diego Convention Center, July 21 – 24, 2016)? Oh, dear. Well, in that case …

So, dear reader. Did Badge Quest vanquish you, again? La pauvre. Forget to pre-reg after last year’s Con, so you could at least have the opportunity to be vanquished early on this year, as quickly and easily as a paladin with zero-invisibility? Registered eventually, woke up crazy-early on open-reg, massacre morning, yet still missed out, even on Sunday badges? What a loser. (JK. Not really. K, maybe. No, jk.) In the end, perhaps you just don’t give a f^%$, but someone you really care about does. However it plays out, come the third week in July you are stuck in downtown San Diego with hours to kill, but no badge. Now what?

Yours Truly (and my supa con-cohort Dr. Lucy) has been very fortunate to have regularly obtained badges, by varied manner of acquisition. (Yes, even ghosts need badges. That’s how bonkers this pop culture phenomenon is.) Whilst a number of folk I know find interest in the Con, none enough to do the early footwork themselves: a mere velliety with no effort. Further, I believe the innate coveting comes more because they may not have a badge, rather than a crushing desire to see a panel with the entire Chanel-cast of Scream Queens, or nab an SDCC-exclusive, Star Trek Barbie. What assuages the unbadged best? Assuring them there is almost as much to do outside the Convention Center, in what is popularly known as The Comic-Con Campus, as inside the Con. (Heh heh. No, there isn’t really; but it’s kind to let them know there’s summat they can do whilst they’re waiting patiently until you join them for après-Con drinkies.)

Luckily for the unbadged, San Diego’s downtown is host to myriad entertainment, even in non-Con times. (Whaaaat? Non-Con times? What is this arid, desert existence of which you speak?!) Walking distance from the San Diego Convention Center – providing you’re mildly healthy – gives you a breadth of activity: Gaslamp District bars, restaurants, shops and galleries, and the Waterfront’s harbourside diversions, like Seaport Village, Star of India (1863, still-seaworthy sailing ship) and Little Italy.

A short drive or ferry ride proffers more divertissements. Natch, my fave nearby haunt is The Hotel del Coronado and its luxurious, beachside enclave of Coronado Island: one-time home to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) author L. Frank Baum, and location for Marilyn Monroe signature-flick, Some Like It Hot (1959). Ferries scoot across the bay every half-hour to/from Coronado at the Convention Center Landing (5th Ave.), and hourly at the Broadway Pier Landing (N. Harbor Dr.): same regularity on return trips at Coronado Landing. (Be smart! Verify Flagship Cruises ferry schedule during the Con.)

If a grand Victorian resort – world’s first to have electricity, in 1904 – , quaint island shopping and multi-million-dollar beach houses aren’t your cup o’ cuppa, try Point Loma. Point Loma, too, boasts multi-million-dollar beach houses, yet it is also home to San Diego Comic Art Gallery, IDW Publishing and Stone Brewing Bistro (host of Hop-Con 4.0, a beery, hoppy alternative to SDCC Preview Night: Wed. July 20th at 5:00p.m.). All three establishments are housed at Liberty Station, a former U.S. Naval Base-turned-unique shopping/dining/work atmos.

Like Alice in Wonderland, if all this noise is screaming at you, cross-armed this-a-waythat-a-way, there is a safe place: OutsideComicCon has your 411. Be ye unbadged, or badged-but-bored after the con doors close, OCC has plenty of suggestions, nicely organized and detailed at their site: from Conan at Spreckles Theater (likely no tix left), to Comedy Bang! Bang! Live! at The Irenic; from Gam3rcon at New School, to Magic the Gathering tourneys at the Marriott; from Star Trek‘s makeup-collection debut at MAC Cosmetics, to Star Trek: Beyond film premiere at the Embarcadero; from Suicide Squad at the Hard Rock, to Suicide Girls Blackheart Burlesque at Brick by Brick … phew, there’s far too much to cite here! Please, visit their 2016 Events page, kids!

If you desire a more serene escape, a respite far from the madding crowd, but still smack dab in the middle of it all, Daffy Duck into Chuck Jones Gallery on Fifth Ave., in the Gaslamp. Set in a light, cool and welcoming brick space, the gallery serves as either museum or dream boutique, depending upon one’s cabbage count. The gallery boasts original works on paper and canvas, as well as cels, sculpture, lithographs and limited edition copies of not only Chuck Jones and Warner Bros. delights, but also Disney, Marvel Comics, Dr. Seuss and Peanuts (Charles Schulz, Bill Melendez and contempo, Peanuts-interpretive artist Tom Everhart). Geoff Hampton, an affable and patient CJG art consultant, was happy to field numerous questions and displayed none of the condescending strain so commonly oozing from other gallery folk. Mr. Hampton informed Moi the gallery enthusiastically engages a Comic-Conesque overlay during SDCC, highlighting their Marvel works, keeping well in tune with the vibe of our Con.

Beyond highlighting Marvel Comics, Chuck Jones Gallery will be hosting a slew of pen-and-inky events for the duration of SDCC: guest artists include Nancy Cartwright (The Simpsons), James C. Mulligan (Disney), Rodel Gonzales (Star Wars) and, wait for it ... Stan Lee and William Shatner (both of freaking awesomeness inc!). For a full schedule of talks, signings and exhibits, visit SDCC Unofficial Blog.

(Please note the gallery does not have a space within the Convention Center; so, be certain to seek them out, badged or not! Re: artist events, please call 619.294.9880 to RSVP.)

Of course, the overwhelmingly popular, just-waiting-for-my-fill-in-the-blank activity is drinking and strolling in the Gaslamp. (Not simultaneously, though. This ain’t New Orleans, kittens!) For you drinkers, caveat emptor, I say! Beware tavernkeeps promising Con-deals. If they can slither into your Apple Pay, they will. (Of course, there are a number of proper deals around town, if you show your badge. Curses! the unbadged declare. Foiled again!) Moreover, whatever you pay, wherever you drink, find thee a taxi, an Uber, a Lyft, a shuttle, a trolley, a train, a spaceship, a landspeeder, a Tron lightcycle, a royal sedan-chair: whatever it takes to get home, or back to your hotel, safely.

As far as the crowds, (Ohh, Jebus, the crowds!) be nice and superduper patient. Don’t poke strangers with your parasol (guilty); if you do, apologize profusely. Hold onto your purse, not to mention your bippy. Say Pardon me, no matter how tired you get of saying it (and you will, after the hundredth time bumping into someone). Hold doors for folks, say After you! often, but don’t hold up the line. Compliment congoers’ costumes, as we spend an awful lot of thought, time and money on them; and save the snark and criticism for … never. Just be nice. My tried and true, popular, SDCC 2014 post, “Boobs Are Not Bunnies“, should help.

San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC, San Diego Convention Center 21 July - 24 July, 2016) is only one month away and few are more excited than Yours Truly, (Miss Hannah Hart) and my fave con-cohort and shutterbug, Dr. Lucy. Naturally, with all those hot and geeky bodies smooshed in such a tight space, naturally the mind wanders to ... security at the San Diego Convention Center. Good news, kittens! You'd be hard-pressed to find a safer spot in San Diego County the third week of July.

Because of all those bodies, the mind-boggling array of fantasy-weaponry and, let's face it, current events, I wanted the lowdown on just how safe and secure the geek masses will be; so I asked. (Always ask, kids. It rarely hurts to ask for what you really want.)

Natch, as is all too sage, no security operation is going to spoon-feed the pubic all the details on what they do, how, when and where they do it. Comic-Con International (CCI) is no exception. What I did get was a satisfying, official statement from Mr. David Glanzer, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer (CCSO) for Comic-Con International. (Did you know Comic-Con has its very own, on-site, police command center? Makes me feel better!)

Security is of paramount importance to Comic-Con. And while we don’t discuss specifics of security at Comic-Con, we have a great relationship and work very closely with the San Diego Police Department and other law enforcement officials. This has resulted in routine discussions throughout the year on various aspects of safety and security. We also have an onsite Police Command Post at the convention center during our event.

Additionally, we make a point of having a great many hired security staff, so many in fact, that, oftentimes, we hire security firms from San Diego and other cities. This has necessitated bringing on a security management company to interface with the many different security agencies hired during Comic-Con.

-Comic-Con International

Thank you, Mr. Glanzer! Straight from the unicorn's mouth. It certainly assuages most of my concerns. Forget not, a great deal of security is in our hands, as attendees: following proper weapons-check, keeping hands to ourselves and just basic good manners. Need a refresher? My SDCC2014 post, "Boobs Are Not Bunnies", will help.

Just four days to check-in at the Omni Los Angeles, kittens! Dr. Lucy and Yours Truly are headed north and changing hotels for the weekend so we can cover all the geeky, gooey goodness of WonderCon 2016 (March 25 - 27, L.A. ConvCtr) just for you, fair reader! Playing under the bright lights of Hollywood (well, H-town adjacent), especially after the Con doors close, brings a splash of glamour to this year's WC that, as much as we love The O.C. (Psst, don't call it that.), Anaheim just cannot provide.

Previous years have found the pre-SDCC crowd playing D&D and Magic the Gathering tourneys, or cosplaying and masquerading in grand fashion at WonderCon Anaheim (WCA). WCA was fab fun, as it was housed in the Anaheim Convention Ctr, just across the street from our Disneyland. What beats a night at Disneyland, after the Con? Nothing. You could still go this year! It is, after all, only about thirty miles down the road. Of course, if Disney admission (currently $119/day, March 21st - 31st) isn't factored into your budget, with the exception of Downtown Disney (no admission fee) and a string of restaurants at Anaheim Gardenwalk, there was, and still is, little else to do within walking distance of the Anaheim convention center.

For this geek girl, just being near the House of Mouse, the manicured lawns and immaculate beaches of Orange County makes me swoon; but even the geekiest of pure geekage on the Con circuit, sometimes, need a little more hip and a little more grit. L.A. can proffer both. Sure the traffic sucks, the parking bites (ex: $48/dy at Omni Los Angeles) and the prices for everything make Disney Dollars seem like Indian rupees, but no matter all that. Like that fun, albeit obnoxious, pal who drinks too much, is always too loud and never offers to chip in, L.A. is worth the effort and the drive ... occasionally.

Might I digress with a brief history of WC, fair reader?

What an excellent idea, Miss Hannah!

Well then ... Like many a restless adventurer, in 2013 WonderCon packed her Tokidoki luggage and left her longtime, NorCal home (since the 1980s) of San Francisco's Moscone Center. With her home being in a long-term refurbishment phase, a SoCal sojourn, near Big Sis San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), seemed in order. However, once WC experienced the fun, sun and pristine beauty of Orange County, not to mention being neighbour to Disneyland, she decided she wanted to stay down south a teensy bit longer. One day, after noticing how popular she was, L.A. came a-wooing and, by 2014 WonderCon, a.k.a. SDCC's little sister, was seriously considering a move to the real action: Hollywood! (Or, Hollywood-adjacent.) After some long, thoughtful walks on those immaculate Orange County beaches, usually below the Ritz-Carlton in Monarch Beach, she came to a decision. Why not?! Being just a short drive up the 5 (but with an ugly, evil stretch of a bumpy, crowded freeway, compared to the beauteous, virtuous stretch of smooth, wide lanes in Orange County's jurisdiction), WC packed her Tokidoki bags once again and hit the road.

Cut to: WonderCon 2016, the the bosom of Downtown L.A. (*choking* But, sir, there's nothing to do downtown *choking released*. If you get that reference, you're definitely my target demo.)

New digs (L.A. ConvCtr), for this year anyway, mean new, après-Con adventures. Kittens, you are now within walking, or Uber, distance of all manner of entertainment: from the ultra hip (L.A. Live, like Dwntwn Disney, but with the volume on 11; Corkbar, wine tasting w/o the stuffed shirts; Mayan Nightclub, dance dance!), to the moderately historic (Millennium Biltmore Hotel, once home to the Academy Awards; Chateau Marmont, wear your best vintage and keep eye for Johnny Depp; Hollywood Hotel Roosevelt, first home of the Academy Awards).

No matter which path you wander when you leave the LACC, you can surely find fun when the Con doors close. Venture, explore, get lost, dress up, make new friends, or new fiends, spend too much money and play tourist, especially if you're a local. Did I mention dress up, and not just in costume?

Listen, you don't have to look like a dork going to a small town prom, but put some effort into it. Wear jeans if you like, but sport some quality footwear, do your nails and shine your locks. L.A. may be cas, but it's not your WalMart brand of casual. Vintage, for men and women, works with everything and gives you a bit of Old Hollywood glam. Buy something unique and geeky at the Con, then work it that night with stilettos, vintage jewelry or your best fedora. Funk it up, kids! You don't have to try too hard, but for Jebus' sake, try. To paraphrase comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, "I'm uncomfortable you're so comfortable. Aren't you embarrassed?"

For regular updates and tips (parking, new RFID-badge scans, weapons/prop checks, program schedules, exhibit hall maps, hotel shuttles, public trans, weather, etc.) from the good folks at Comic-Con Int'l, use the handy-dandy WonderCon App! While your phone's out, share your adventures and pix with us on Twitter @JennyPopNet@GoodToBeAGeek and @Eslilay, using #wondercon and #wc2016! (BTW, if you see Marvel's Agent Carter, in true, late-1940s vintage, it might just be Moi. Be nice and say, Hi, Hannah Hart! Nice dress! Nice chapeau! Nice to meet you!)

So, kids, it's me, Miss Hannah Hart, ghostdame of The Del. By now you know my backstory very well and, clearly, I am here to stay in this dishy, dizzy burg by the sea. Why would I ever leave my glorious San Diego and my fab Hotel del Coronado?

Aside: The Hotel Del is under new ownership, BTW! Let's see if the new Patron appreciates all the kippy gratis adverts and bon mots Yours Truly, and our Dr. Lucy, proffer to The Del. Feel free to send your cheerful postcards to Miss Hannah Hart, ghostdame of The Del at 1500 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA 92118! Let the new owners know how much you love The Del, San Diego, Hannah Hart, ghostdame, Dr. Lucy and her pet, Onslow the Ghostly Octopus!

Anyhoo, even if I wasn't a full-time haunt at one of America's grandest Victorian hotels, I would never dream of floating north, unless it was all the way to Monterey. Bloody Marys on Cannery Row with John Steinbeck? Yes, please! Well, hard to believe, two San Diego icons have been flirting with plans to float: San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) and the San Diego Chargers (a football team) have been looking northward.

Until January 2016, the Chargers were already gone in their mind - Fiigmo, I believe military folk call it - headed to new digs in L.A., to be built, and shared, in concert with the Oakland Raiders. After months of Chargers-owner Dean Spanos toying with fans and city officials, like a girlfriend keeping you around in case Mr. Better doesn't work out, he made an L.A. bid. Sadly for him, Mr. Better sent him and his dirty-weekend bag packing after a meeting of NFL owners in NYC nixed his dreams of the City of Angels. Now, the NFL suits have given Spanos and his team until January 2017 to make nicey-nice with their longtime girlfreind, San Diego: fifty-five years of holding hands on the beach. San Diego is a very popular girl, as she and Comic-Con have also been holding hands on the beach for quite a while, too: forty-five years.

Quick history lesson, kids: Just as Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Paul Stanley met Ace Frehley and formed KISS via an ad in the back of The Village Voice, so Richard Alf, a local, S.D. high school geek, met Sheldon Dorf via an ad in the back of Marvel Comics and formed Comic-Con. (Geek factoids: pre-KISS, Simmons sold comic books for extra money; his iconic eye makeup is modeled on the wings of comic book character Black Bolt. Hey, the Chargers are nicknamed the Bolts. See how life ties together, kids?)

So, Alf and Dorf first sold comic books out of Mother and Father Alf's S.D. garage; then, in 1970, organized the very first comic convention in the area, originally known as San Diego's Golden State Comic-Con at the U.S. Grant Hotel. To this day, every year, the Grant is a highly coveted hotel reservation, and one of the official SDCC hotels, for the truest of Con devotees. Read the whole history, as told by Moi, here, kids!

But, Hannah, the fair reader inquires, why no brief history of the Chargers?

Even so, apropos to our convention interests, as of February 2016, after Spanos' NFL spanking, the Chargers and America's Finest City have been working the room, hard, wooing each other all over again, not to mention locals, investors and taxpayers to bless construction of a grand, new stadium-convention center annex. Together, it would be a state-of-the-art, waterfront, dining/shopping/entertainment/sports-center. As it stands, the Chargers announced in late-February they would "pursue a downtown multi-use stadium project in conjunction with an expansion of the center, rejecting a proposal by city and county officials to locate a new playing facility in Mission Valley".

Miss Hannah, the fair reader now wonders, why would I, a Starfleet Academy badge-holding dork care where a bunch of jocks play their sports ball games?

Excellent query, fair reader! You care because with this push for a new, Spongebob Fancypants stadium, there could come a shinier, bigger San Diego Convention Center which could keep our beloved San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) in town well past the current, solidified date of 2018 and give us so much more elbow room on the con-floor!

"We are very happy to call San Diego our home for another two years,'' Comic-Con spokesman David Glanzer said in July of 2015. "I will be honest, it was touch-and-go for a while."

Yes, if you haven't been paying attention, kittens, SDCC has been pondering a move for some time: sort of like dating you, but keeping an eye on your always-beach-ready roommate. The consideration to switch has been primarily due to space. Like Gal Gadot (Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice) and her restyled-Wonder Woman, molded-leather bustier, there is, technically, enough room to cover all main components; but there's a lot of overflow. As long as the hooks and buckles don't pop we're okay. Take a deep breath and we might have a problem. The tensile strength of San Diego Convention Center's hooks and buckles are being tested, which is why we now have what San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer calls the Comic-Con Campus: a network of adjacent hotels and City property for said-overflow.

S.D. Comic-Con 2016 is estimated to affect regional-impact with $140million: including attendance of 130K congoers spending $82.8million directly related to the Con, as well as 62,922 hotel rooms, all according to the San Diego Convention Center 2016 Forecast. That's a lot of peanuts, Jumbo! The next biggest economic contributor is Society for Neuroscience convention, with 32K attendees which, oddly still generates nearly $110million in regional-impact. You know those neuroscientists are buying a G&T or two at The Del's Sunset Bar! I certainly am!

All in all, tourism officials say if the City can keep a contiguous, convention floor-space, as opposed to the current Comic-Con spread, they should be able to attract not only larger trade shows currently passing up San Diego, but, more specific to our needs, keep Comic-Con in San Diego, just as it has been since 1970.

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Meet Miss JennyPop

Jennifer Susannah Devore

Jenny Pop is the acclaimed Author of the Savannah of Williamsburg series of books and The Darlings of Orange County. In addition, Jen is a prolific consumer of media and pop culture. Never leaving the house without her journal and fave Waterman pen, an old-fashioned, analog book (usually Hunter S. Thompson) and a fresh coat of lipstick, she is constantly on the hunt for fun, espresso, animation and comics of any kind and always ready for an impromptu day at Disneyland. JennyPop.net is a natural extension of Jen's World; so, spend some time visiting. You'll have fun, she promises!

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Meet Miss Hannah

Hannah Hart, ghost dame of the Hotel del Coronado

So, here's the low down, all you Joes and Janes ... I'm Hannah Hart, dead girl. Don't fret, it's actually a sweet dish being dead. Having perished in 1934 in a terrifically vicious accessories incident with actress Ida Lupino, I reside where I died: San Diego's gorgeous Hotel del Coronado. It ain't a bad gig at all, really! Great weather, swanky guests (not to mention a few fellow ghosties), amazing amenities, my own private turret overlooking the sea and all the java juice and giggle water I can handle; plus, these bartenders know how to make a Planter's Punch like nobody's business! See, I've been waiting for this Internet thing forever ... now, instead of slamming doors and moving lamps, I get to wag my tongue all I like at goodtobeageek.com